At the end of 2012, the show's producers had asked people to share on their blog creative projects they wanted to tackle in 2013, and they chose four people's ideas and followed them throughout the year. This guy's was to do a cello recital. What had me scratching my head a little is that he is a music teacher but had never performed solo on the cello, and also he seemed to have little idea of what is involved in preparing for such a thing. And though I applaud the concept and his desire to do this, the realization of it is quite modest (there is some audio at the link I've posted here).

Anyway, this got me thinking. There are two things I've been wanting to try. One is to rework all of the Bach suites and record them, just to see what I can do with them. I have learned and performed them all over the years, some a number of times, but not with the maturity and understanding I could bring to them now. Another wish I've had is to combine my piano playing and cello playing somehow. And then the idea came to me: I could find a performance space and play Bach on the piano and on the cello. One possibility I am envisioning is choosing prelude and fugue sets, or other pieces, in the same keys as the cello suites and playing them in juxtaposition.

I would not attempt more than two cello suites on one program. More than that would be a bit much for both me and the audience. Maybe even just one suite and one piano piece would be enough at one time. But spread out over a couple of years, this could be a fulfilling endeavor.

Studio 360 is running this contest again for 2014, and I even went so far as to post my idea on their blog, though I doubt if they'd want to feature a cellist two years in a row. But I have to thank them for giving me the nudge to dream this up. Let's see if I can actually make it happen.

Interesting Links

Labels

Well-Tempered Clavier Project

I am on a quest to learn all 48 sets of preludes and fugues in Bach's Well-Tempered Clavier, "learning" including memorizing. I thought it might be interesting to collect all of my Bach efforts in one place; see the list below. Clicking on the link will open the recording so you can listen to it.

The recordings are in reverse chronological order (oldest last). The earliest was recorded in 2006.

I am NOT implying that these are definitive interpretations! Rather, this is meant to document my development as an amateur pianist.

I have actually learned these others as well but never tried recording them; maybe someday I will go back and resurrect them:

WTC II/20 in A minor
WTC I/21 in B flat major
WTC I/1 in C major
WTC I/2 in C minor